milan03

I haven't seen any aggressiveness in Sprint's action plan to deploy VoLTE as of late. And considering a push towards EVRC-NW while everyone else is using W-AMR, I'd love to see that Multi-Operator VoLTE integration in action. May not be as seamless as we think. HSPA+42 is still a viable airlink for data, voice and roamers. And it's being migrated to PCS which widens up contiguity for LTE in the AWS. Since T-Mobile has enough contiguous spectrum for two W-CDMA carriers, there is no reason not to have HSPA+42. Worth saying that T-Mobile subs don't have CDMA capable handsets, and can't necessarily utilize Sprint's voice in the short term. Moving everyone to HSPA/LTE significantly cuts the manufacturing and licensing cost.

Pretty sure it can't. The first slide above displaying the proposed path to convergence is way behind as we are still without VoLTE networks and UE, and Sprint doesn't necessarily have an aggressive strategy for VoLTE. Also under that slide, the article displaying proposed eNodeB sharing is targeted for LTE Release 12 which is still being finalized by 3GPP administration. The infrastructure is probably ~2years away... Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but at the moment that is the reality. From the consumer standpoint, merging two operators won't provide us any short to mid term benefits. I'm sure executives and stock holders will be happy with the scale, but this is only going to slow down the disruption in the market. And with insane amount of spectrum, going into the 600MHz auction is going to be a bitch.

Think about the existing Sprint subs without WCDMA compatible handsets. Not sure what the percentage is but it's a scary thought. The transition would involve a bit more than just the infrastructure vendor upgrades.

I'm actually talking about your Class II post.

Please tell me that you're kidding with that earlier post.

Just flipping a switch, right? Heh, if it was only that simple...

From the moment they announced merger until it officially fell apart. For year and a half T-Mobile's network deployment was completely stalled. If T-Mobile and Sprint merge, at least one network will have to start transitioning onto the new technology.

Just remember what AT&T merger did to T-Mobile network deployment.

Sprint should better it's network without a merger. Merger itself would only diminish the competitiveness in the wireless market, and only slow down network advancements on both networks. Not to mention the repercussions going into 600MHz auction.

Here is a new lab video they just published today:

Not necessarily. A single 8T8R radio per site could cover four 2x2 MIMO sectors, or two 4x4 MIMO sectors, etc... Typical cell site is three sector setup, and only if Sprint has 8T8R radio per sector, 8x2 MIMO is possible. Considering how slow the equipment vendors are, chances are that Sprint may have 2x2 MIMO setup until they can deploy radio equipment in volume. Also, as per John Saw's statement today, 8T8R equipment literally just exited the lab testing stage and went into the field testing stage, so it's safe to say that Sprint's TDD LTE Higher Order MIMO service isn't commercially live yet, as I've mentioned in my earlier posts.

AJ, I'm not comparing Sprint's infrastructure with T-Mobile's, that's never my intention. Sprint should be getting some fine equipment as we speak and once deployed, it should be high performance. Specially when paired with all that B41 spectrum.Let's also not forget that T-Mobile is starting with 700a and PCS LTE deployment, so it's not AWS only. Many rural markets will have PCS and not AWS LTE as soon as this year. So that's getting interesting as well. As for MIMO thing, again 4x2 MIMO is very much a MIMO technology, capable of sending 4 "discrete" spatial streams at the cell site. Now UE manufacturers still aren't producing a device with 4 receive antennas, but that doesn't in any way diminish the capabilities of the network. In LTE terminology diversity utilization implies that spatial multiplexing isn't available (due to network limitations or unfavorable RF conditions), so the network scheduler assigns a single codeword for that particular UE. That's not what's happening here. Also as of March on T-Mobile's 2x2 network, only about 35% of the time UE is utilizing MIMO, and that's mostly when in low mobility and with high SINR. With 4 streams at the tower top that percentage will be much higher. Sprint's B25 network has much less favorable MIMO numbers. So the retainability of data streams and therefore MIMO utilization is significantly higher when 4x2 MIMO is active. That's also why the median data rates improve. Sprints 8tx radio heads need core network to have higher order enabled, and as far as I know that hasn't happened yet.

Any network would benefit from 4x4 MIMO deployment, but UE antenna design with 4 (interference free) spatial streams is challenging, and so naturally handset OEMs still only produce 2x2 devices. Luckily, there's been some progress, and we should hopefully see first handsets with 4x4 MIMO design by the end of this year and into 2015. http://www.skycross.com/news-and-events/press-release/mwc-2014-4x4-mimo/

Some NSN sites have the thicker square looking 4-beam antennas, in other cases they would cluster two 2-beam antennas. Since NSN Flexi base stations are 4x4 MIMO capable, T-Mobile NSN had 4x4 capable antenna setup from the get go. Now Ericsson markets are completely different story. Deploying 4x2 there would require new panels, upgrade to the BTS, etc... Don't think it'll happen this year.

AJ, this isn't spatial diversity only. Multiplexing on 2 spatial streams is still present in 4x2 setup. And with 4 streams at the tower top, there is a higher probability of spatial multiplexing altogether. So the probability of UE connecting to TM3 or TM4 is much greater in 4x2 setup.

AJ, all existing commercially available T-Mobile LTE devices are compatible with 4x2 MIMO LTE networks. It's 4 transmit paths at the BTS, and the existing 2 receiving paths on the UE. Hence 4x2. 4x2 setup improves median down and up links, edge of cell performance and overall robustness and spectral efficiency of the network. It's also a sidestep to 4x4 MIMO, so once UE manufacturers figure out how to muscle in 4 receive antennas without interference and poor battery life into that 4x4 capable device, T-Mobile's LTE users will instantly get the benefit of higher peak data rates of 4 spatial streams. That's 300Mbps peak download throughput, up from their existing 150Mbps in 20Mhz FDD LTE channels.

Is there another wireless operator in the US that has a live 4x2 network today? To my knowledge there isn't. I know Sprint's been talking about 8Tx/8Rx capable equipment lately and that's great, but afaik Sprint doesn't have commercially live Higher Order MIMO LTE Network. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

GigaOm also got the official statement from T-Mobile: http://gigaom.com/2014/04/24/forget-speed-t-mobile-has-started-building-a-more-resilient-lte-network/ “We do see the benefits 4×2 MIMO offers and will be deploying this in many cities in 2014 as part of our Wideband LTE rollout,” McDiarmid said in a statement to Gigaom. “All of T-Mobile’s available devices currently support 4×2 MIMO and we’ll ensure that new devices will as well. We believe this will be one of the first deployments by a top carrier network in the US.”

Someone from NorthWest Chicago verified already. It's a 10Mhz channel with 4x2. Also, NSN research lab is in Arlington Heights, could be an interesting area to check out.

Looks like T-Mobile's 4x2 MIMO is live in their NSN markets like Dallas, San Antonio, Chicago. Other NSN markets are Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, Denver, etc...

Pretty much.

I'm sure Hesse's pay has already been less than Randal's and Lowell's, but the reaction was tripped due to the extraordinary increase, especially considering that lately the operator hasn't been doing so proportionally well.

Of course not, but they do have the power to express their (strong) opinion using their web sites that generate decent traffic.

Check with @KarlBode. Honestly, I don't think paying a CEO $46 million a year while his network's performance has been consistently last in every possible metric over the past few years is gonna be welcomed with a friendly high five by general public. Did he close two major deals last year? Absolutely. But he also kept the guys in charge of network disaster for way too long, really until Masa came in and started trimming the fat.

Hesse's $46 million in 2013 compensation tops AT&T (CEO Randall Stephenson made $23.24 million), Verizon (CEO Lowell McAdam made $15.82 million in 2013) and presumably T-Mobile (who hasn't filed their SEC docs yet). http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Sprint-CEO-Pay-Balloons-Despite-Companys-Struggles-128598 http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-ceo-hesses-compensation-balloons-11m-2012-49m-2013/2014-04-16?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Editor&utm_campaign=SocialMedia http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/101830/000010183014000012/sprintcorp201310-k.htm